Sonic Boom MAN
by Fluffy1984
Summary: Wherein Sonic's a Robot Master and follows X into the future! Kinda. Meta, too.
1. Prologue

20XX. It is a world of robots. Robots that can do any task in nearly any environment including outer space. They are more than just useful; they serve as friends, companions, performers, and some owners even treat them like family. At the head of this robotic world is the kind and well-meaning Doctor Thomas Light with Light Labs, the industry leader in robot design and the father of the Robot Master, a supervisor class of robot with better A.I., more power, a more human personality, and designed to require minimal human supervision. Once they had a task and a team at their disposal, they were some of the most efficient workers on the planet.

Every industry, except for perhaps medical, made use of robot masters; especially the entertainment industry. There were mascots, camera crew, announcers, performers, reporters, and even occasionally actors.

Oddly enough, the video game industry was slow to jump on the bandwagon. It was understandable since some icons wouldn't translate well to a robot master, not to mention it was cheaper to just hire actors as needed instead. This was so for the human characters, but for cartoony animal characters the idea was more feasible and even preferable. Having a robot master mascot always increased popularity and therefore revenue.

Which was exactly the reason SEGA Enterprises, Ltd. decided to commission Dr. Light himself for an ambitious robot master of their own: a robotic version of longtime video game icon Sonic the Hedgehog. They wanted him capable of the character's full speed, needed to have them as identical as possible in both look and personality, and had to have him capable of seamlessly transitioning between eastern and western audiences.

Within a few months' time Dr. Light invited a few of SEGA's representatives, a mix of Sonic Team and the American branch marketing team, out to his property for a filmed field test of their new Robot Master.

In the lab, Rock and Roll hovered over the newly activated one meter tall robotic hedgehog, double checking his systems and making sure his armor fit right. Dr. Light couldn't build the mascot to achieve supersonic speed without some kind of protection, and luckily the video game company was on board with the idea: it enabled the public to be reminded that their robot was still just a robot.

"Gah, Roll, I'm fine," groused the infant robot master, shaking his arm free of her grip. He smiled to tell her he wasn't really irritated.

"Hold _still_," Roll scolded, "It still isn't fitting right like before! If you go full speed it'll come loose and you'll shake yourself apart!"

"Has it ever occurred to you that I can slow down before that happens," he retorted smartly with a smirk. Rock snickered.

"He has a point, sis." Roll merely rolled her green eyes and threw her hands up in the air. Rock tried not to laugh at the gesture, instead giving his twin a sympathetic smile, but when the new robot master fixed the ill fit himself the boy-robot hero couldn't help a small giggle.

The three all walked out the back door and strode towards where Dr. Light and Auto currently set up the high speed camera, the group from SEGA all staring at the latest engineering marvel. The new robot master's full name was Sonic Boom Man. His all-metal blue and tan body was covered in a protective suit of armor the same bold blue color with a black undersuit for insulation and cooling. He also wore a thin visor the same emerald green color of his eyes that connected to two "headphones" which wrapped around the top of his head behind his ears. Dr. Light hadn't been too sure if he nailed the "cool" factor he had gone for, but the finished robot master rocked the look. The man eventually planned on giving Sonic Boom Man some synthetic fur to make him look even more like the character he was built to emulate, but he would discuss that with the reps after the initial test.

"G'morning, fellas," greeted Sonic Boom first, chuckling to himself when the group only stared. He didn't want them too uncomfortable, so he added, "Too much? I mean, I'm programmed to sound like Roger's Sonic when I speak English, so..."

"Oh! No, no, you're fine, Sonic," one of the American branch reps replied, blinking when he realized his mistake. Dr. Light chuckled lightly while his latest creation gave a happy thumbs up.

"Cool! Just make sure you remember I'm actually Sonic Boom Man. We all know the actual Sonic the Hedgehog doesn't require a suit to run faster than the speed of sound."

"Which all of you will see for yourselves shortly," announced Dr. Light. "We've run tests in the lab and thus far the results are good. Now, we get to have a proper field test. Auto, is everything ready?"

"Yes sir," replied the rotund green and yellow robot assistant with a salute. Sonic Boom Man took a steeling breath despite not needing to breathe at all, giving Rock a smile when the robot boy squeezed his shoulder.

The reps were in awe already. Not only did the robot master sound and move like the real Sonic, he even behaved like a living being. It was obvious a great deal of work went into his design, especially in the details. If the robotic entertainer had fur and took off the suit no one would be able to tell unless they were told beforehand.

The new robot master took his place at the starting point Dr. Light marked already in the grass while Auto ran the camera at normal speed for the moment.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Dr. Light began, "I present to you my latest design and commission, Sonic Boom Man. He is a Robot Master built for speed and agility, his frame constructed with the lightest metals in production right now without sacrificing too much durability. He can take a fair beating in case of any stunts gone wrong, and without his armor he can reach Mach 0.5. Unfortunately, I couldn't build him to reach beyond Mach 1 without his body shaking itself apart. That is what his armor is for, to reinforce his frame. His visor assists in his vision so he doesn't run into or through everything in his path.

"Today, June 23rd, is the Mach 1 field test. His capability has already been tested in the lab that Boeing so graciously lent to me. Sonic Boom Man will make a few laps one mile each until he surpasses the speed of sound and maintains it for 30 seconds. Accounting for air resistance and winds, he should hold up." The kindly man turned to Sonic. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be, Doc," Sonic answered, "Rock, you got your channel open?"

"Sure do," Rock replied.

"Okay. Go," Dr. Light called, hopping out of the way as Sonic Boom Man took off with a whoosh. He reached 60 miles per hour faster than any formula one racecar, reaching double that as he completed the first lap with a loud whoop. The robotic hedgehog loved the feel of the actual air of the world whizzing by his ears. It brought other sounds, smells, and a dynamic resistance not reproducible in the lab. He could already feel small pockets of least resistance and adjusted his body without taking away too much from his trajectory, letting his visor assist as he steadily ran faster and faster. He smirked triumphantly at the subtle boost he was given and lowered his head, laying his ears flatter for better aerodynamics.

Everyone watching looked on in awe as the metal hedgehog passed by faster and faster, becoming a literal blue blur. Even Rock and Roll had trouble keeping up. A moment later Rock heard his radio crackle to life.

"Have everyone stand farther back," Sonic warned, "This shockwave is going to be rough!"

"Got it," Rock replied. "Everyone please stand farther back! Sonic's almost at Mach 1, he doesn't want us hurt by the shockwave!"

Everyone present obeyed, Auto somehow managing to keep the camera steady as it filmed at max speed. On the far end of the predetermined lap a near-deafening **BOOM** threw a shockwave in all directions. The audience had to brace against each other to keep from falling over for a few seconds. When they looked again, it was like a continuous streak of blue rushed by only to reform on itself at different points as Sonic repeatedly caught up with his own afterimage. As if that wasn't enough, the sounds of him passing were completely out of sync with what everyone saw.

As soon as 30 seconds passed Sonic Boom Man came to a complete stop using his armored boots, small waves of heat from the friction radiating off his body. He took in a few gulps of air to assist his cooling system, then turned to everyone else with a grin that stretched across his muzzle and gave an enthusiastic thumbs up.

"All green, Doc," he announced.

"Yay, it worked," Rock cheered with a grin and small hop.

"Oh my goodness, this is better than we could have hoped for," one of the reps noted. She turned to Dr. Light and asked, "What about his fur? Will his appearance be eventually upgraded to have that?"

"I can give him an economic, ergonomic fur coat," replied the scientist, "but that will take another week."

"We can afford the extra week," one of the reps from the Japanese branch said. He turned to the new robot master and added, "Apologies, Sonikku, but you'll have to wait a little more before coming home."

"No problem. I think the fur would serve me better anyway," Sonic Boom Man responded as he walked over. "All metal is a little too heat conductive at high speeds." The robotic hedgehog's smile softened as he looked everyone over, glad they were all okay.

June 23rd, 20XX

My word. As a scientist and acclaimed roboticist, I couldn't be more proud. Today the field test for Sonic Boom Man went so well I was able to gain a little more time to implement some features I hadn't been able to get to yet. DLN-091 "Sonic Boom Man" breached the speed of sound and maintained that speed with no loss of structural integrity with the armor suit on. I realize I probably didn't have to create a robot master capable of such a feat, but SEGA was very specific in what they wanted out of the build.

He is programmed with the sharpest A.I. and fastest reaction time known to man thus far, a must if you're a blue speedster and need to make quick on the fly judgements. Intelligent, compassionate, adventurous, fun-loving, friendly, all the biggest personality traits of the actual Blue Blur himself are all present and accounted for. All those hours playing through most of the Sonic games were well worth it. It's a shame he won't be used for much outside entertainment purposes such as promos and special appearances.

During his time awake Sonic and Rock became fast friends, doing what boys do and get into a little bit of trouble. I don't have the heart to scold either of them. Let's face it, some of those shenanigans were pretty funny and definitely something I would have done at their age.

As a father, I worry. In my zeal to build a robot as close to the real article as possible, I think I might have given Sonic a little too much. As his builder I will be responsible for his regular maintenance; I'll have to make sure he's holding up all right psychologically as well as physically. I have no doubt he'll do well and like his job. I only hope he makes plenty of good and true friends along the way.

-Thomas Light


	2. Chapter 1

21XX.

Much had changed in the world. Robots were still around, though they had advanced to something more. The umbrella term used was "reploid", short for replica android. Every reploid in the world could trace themselves back to a single origin, the cause of their general label in the first place: Dr. Light's last creation and the only android with limitless pontential, named X.

Everyone knew the story. X was found in the buried remnants of Dr. Light's house and lab by the archaeologist Dr. James Cain and brought to life from the capsule the android had been sealed away in. X was raised, studied, and then duplicated. When Cain was confident the replica android functioned just fine, more were manufactured. Reploids quickly became a regular part of day-to-day life just like with the robot masters of days long past. Then, some began to malfunction. Some rebelled. Some killed. They paid for their crimes with their own lives, ended by a new organization called the Maverick Hunters.

For decades, war and chaos reigned between precious few smatterings of peace. It was the previous century all over again, though instead of Dr. Wily it was the name Sigma that struck the same terror into the hearts of many. Despite the following tragedies, life still went on. People were still able to prosper, and eventually began a colony on the moon. The Earth had been battered, but still recovered beautifully. Reploids essentially ran the world at that point, numbering more planetside than organic humans. The Jacob Project was still completed on time despite Lumine's rebellion and was hailed as the most successful joint project between humans and reploids to date. It ferried supplies and people of both kinds to and from the Moon.

Meanwhile, a new valuable resource called Force Metal was taking off. Its abundance and versatility enabled reploids to power themselves even further in every imaginable way. Need more speed? There's a force metal for that. Power? Strength? Endurance? Got it. There were even consumables made from force metals for an extra boost of energy. A reploid could only equip or use so many before it affected their systems harmfully, what was coined as "force metal tolerance," and no two reploids had the same level of tolerance.

Pop culture still existed, as it always would so long as there was an audience with a need to escape or be entertained. Movies were still made, music recorded and broadcasted, various shows filmed and sports still managed to gather folks around a suspended vidscreen either at home or at work. Video games had come a long way since the days of the joystick and multi- button controller. Most of them were experienced as virtual reality. Some were just headpieces and a standard controller while other more advanced setups had a chair with multiple hookups that connected to the body from the console built in. One could choose to project the game onto vidscreen or keep it completely private.

Game developers, however, were fewer in number than ever before. There wasn't any shortage of franchises, but new and fresh material and people were hard to come by for the consumer. Anyone who seemed promising either got bought by some big name company or was chased out of the industry by those same companies. Nintendo-Microsoft was utterly notorious for the latter practice, giving indie developers almost no choice but to back off when something of theirs became popular. Two of the biggest video game developers of the 20th and 21st centuries had finally come together to form a near-unstoppable and un-topable behemoth, with Mario and Master Chief as their main frontmen.

The company headquartered in Abel City, the largest and most resilient metropolis in the world. Built atop Tokyo's ashes and bones after Mt. Fuji's devastating eruption, having weathered through every single Maverick War to date, it was a shining example of the people's ability to always move forward and persevere.

The headquarters itself was a bit of a Frankenstein building if one looked closely enough. It was one of the few buildings that escaped total destruction from the eruption with enough of its structure to be reused and repurposed, then built upon and modernized. The American branch of the company still existed in Redmond, Washington and still made use of the large campus in the next town over, Bellevue, but most of the magic happened in Abel. It was there that many hopefuls from around the world hoped to get hired and make their mark in an industry that's still beloved to masses of people.

Still, even intern jobs weren't always what they were cracked up to be, as Nathan O'Hare and Desmond Carpenter both found out. They were among the lucky few, college buddies looking to make it in their dream job programming for games they loved, and also occasionally fetching coffee, lunch, and other errands for the regular teams there. Sometimes they got to participate in some development here and there for some minor projects, and even debug some of the other projects. Just those little smatterings of what it was like to develop for a big name company kept their motivation going and their spirits up.

One day, Nathan was running some mail out to different departments. He was a ginger-haired boy of obvious Irish descent, originally born in the United States and currently attended Washington University at Seattle. He and Desmond were at the same school, though his fellow brunette hailed all the way from the east coast in Florida, whose family worked for NASA in various departments. Though he knew the majority of the building relatively well, Nathan took a wrong turn and wheeled down a very quiet and halfway lit hallway. He didn't think anything of it at first; some of the employees could get real reclusive once they were working on something. He made a couple more turns, stopping only when it finally registered just how far away he was from the regular sounds of work. No talking, no typing, no clicking, just the faint sound of the air conditioning coming through the vents.

It was _eerie_. Nathan flicked his blue eyes about uncertainly, for a moment forgetting where he had come from. There wasn't anything to distinguish one place from another, even with the rooms that still had cubicles. It was like he entered into another world, just sitting there abandoned and waiting to be used again. Despite his nervous apprehension, the young man moved forward, farther into the stark, silent, stale halls. Eventually only a few lights were on every 30 feet or so, and Nathan eventually left his mail cart against a wall to go explore more. It had seemed to him those parts didn't appreciate all the noise of just one person.

He hugged the wall for the moment, turning down a startingly short hallway that ended at a wooden door with rusty hinges. It was flanked by windows on each side, both covered by blinds. He tested the handle; it was unlocked. He pulled hard on the door, wincing at the screech of the rusted hinges and glancing behind him to check if anyone else was around to hear that. Of course, he was still alone. Nathan held in a gasp and instead nervously gulped as he peeked into the dark, dank room.

At first glance it looked like the entrance to another department, maybe one that had been dissolved long ago and just left to rot in the oldest parts of the building. To his left an old sign decorated the wall, what looked like a logo of some kind: bold blue capital letters with white stripes running through them. S.E.G.A.? Just what did _that_ stand for? Was it even a game company or a branch of one? It sounded like a computer technology company, maybe an old competitor of SONY. Nathan tried one of the light switches, not really expecting it to work, and gaped his mouth wide open when the lost world beyond his vision came into clear view.

Though covered in dust and smelling slightly stale, it really did look like just another department. The front area was a waiting lounge with a century or more old pachinko machine, a water tower with a coffee bar next to it, a couch in front of the desk that was just below the logo, and beyond that was yet another door that probably led to the rest of it.

Through some deep automatic urge Nathan checked his watch and cursed at how much time had passed. People would be looking for him. He had to find his way back, and quick, before anyone truly noticed that was gone. Wait until he told Desmond about _this_!


	3. Chapter 2

Takashi Iizuka stood from his office chair quite suddenly, mouth agape as an armor-free Sonic Boom Man sauntered down the hallway, a few other employees right behind him, all of them grinning widely. The robotic hedgehog's quills bounced a little almost like hair, completely on model, his synthetic fur coat fine and soft to the touch, synthetic skin absolutely seamless. No one would be able to tell right away he had a metal frame underneath. He even wore the real thing's signature red and white frictionless sneakers. Bright emerald green eyes made contact with Iizuka's dark brown and a wide smile tilted just a bit into a cool smirk.

"Good morning," Sonic Boom Man greeted in Japanese, his voice set to Jun-ichi's bank. Iizuka was taken aback slightly. He sounded so _natural_!

The man grinned and bowed in response. "Good morning, Sonic!" He made a realizing grunt at his mistake and added, "Uh, is it all right if we just call you Sonic for short?" Everyone else shared a light laugh.

"No problem," Sonic replied in characteristic Engrish before continuing in Japanese, "I'm supposed to emulate the guy, I don't see why not."

"Also, where is your suit? I was told you had an armor suit to help you reach the speed of sound without falling apart."

"It's in my new recharge capsule. It has a recall function so I can just have it warp right onto me if I need to use it. It's the same system Rockman uses for his." Sonic hopped onto Iizuka's desk and asked, "So! What's my first task? Or job, whichever."

"Uh, I don't think we have anything for you at the moment. I think we're still putting together an event for Mania both here and in America, so that's soon. In the meantime, feel free to look around and get to know everybody." Sonic smiled at the level of freedom he was just given and nodded, hopping down from the desk and whipping away out of the office to go explore the building. One of the others escorting the robot master glanced over to Sonic Team's head uncertainly.

"Are you sure that's all right?" Iizuka nodded.

"He's ours now, there's no reason he can't get familiar with us. He's our helper, not just a robotic mascot."

"Desmond," Nathan called as both young men exited the building, their work done for the day. His schoolmate leisurely paused and looked back, nodding once in acknowledgement.

"Sup, dude? Where were you earlier?" The ginger lad grinned at the memory, excited by the mystery of the long forgotten sector of the gaming headquarters.

"I got lost again," he explained, "but I found something really cool! It was like a whole nother world sitting there right under our noses! Hey, do you know what S.E.G.A. stands for?" The brunette blinked and shook his head.

"That's what the Net is for, dude," Desmond replied.

"You know we can't access anything in there," Nathan retorted with a small roll of his eyes.

"Your phone has Net access, doesn't it?"

"Des, we are poor college students. I have a basic-basic pay as you go phone to stay in touch with family and friends. So, uh, no." Desmond rolled his own eyes and brought out his own phone. It was basic by modern standards, but it still had 7G on it and a doable data cap for the price he paid each month. He searched the odd acronym sans periods and frowned curiously at the results that came up. It was some defunct game company that went the way of the dinosaurs for trying to keep up with everyone else way too late. Nintendo may have been a stiff Japanese company, too, but unlike most of their competitors they kept innovating and revolutionizing. They knew what made games fun, and it wasn't a blue rat with an attitude problem. In fact, that blue rodent looked familiar...

"Well," Nathan prodded.

"It's pronounced 'SEGA' like one word, for one. For another, it's an old video game company." Desmond definitely thought Nathan's huge gasp was too big of a reaction.

"Oohh my gooood," Nathan breathed, his hands digging into his red curls. "Dude! This is crazy! I was doing the mail cart today, right? I got lost again cuz I wasn't paying attention, and I _found_ it! I found SEGA!" Desmond barked out a laugh as he put his phone back in his pocket.

"Nate, why would SEGA be in the headquarters for NinMic?"

"That nickname's still stupid."

"Just answer the question."

"I dunno, why does anything? Look, I am telling you I _found_ SEGA's old offices inside that building. I almost thought I got teleported or something cuz everything is so still and unused. It's so weird that such a huge area isn't being utilized for something, especially on an upper floor!" Desmond shook his head in disbelief, making Nathan exude a big exasperated sigh. "I can find my way there again, I'll show you and prove to you it's there and real and totally not a hallucination. Oh man, I gotta research this company!"

The brunette had to laugh at his friend. Part of what made Nathan good at programming was he got excited at the challenge of solving problems. He was hugely self-motivated, but he also tended to get distracted by some other interesting problem if he spotted one. Desmond was just as good, and focused, but he needed a plan before he tackled anything.

The two young men went about their afternoon routine, stepping into their favorite coffee shop for a pick-me-up. Like so many shops those days, it was owned and operated by reploids, though most wouldn't be able to tell at first glance since none of them wore armor and instead wore regular barista uniforms complete with aprons. The owner greeted them personally, a black-haired amber-eyed fellow who claimed to be a retired Maverick Hunter.

"Hey Desmond, Nathan! How was work?"

"It's just an internship, Jade," Desmond reminded with a smile.

"It's also a paid one," countered the reploid.

"I found something real neat, but I have to research it first," Nathan said as he took his usual order. "The building we work in is just chock full of old treasures."

"The Nintendo-Microsoft building is a lot older than most people realize. It was one of the few buildings left standing after Fuji's last eruption, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's still a bunch of stuff still in there that are leftovers from the last century," Jade informed, making the two interns blink in wonder. Neither of them had known the building was _that_ old. It wasn't immediately obvious, and their seniors hadn't hinted at the place's age either, only the companies' before the merger.

"Hey," Nathan said to Jade, "you're an older reploid. Do you know anything else about that building or the businesses that had it before?"

"Nope, sorry," Jade answered with a shake of his head. He chuckled at the ginger's disppointed comtemplative pout. "There is an urban legend some of the employees there talk about, that some parts of the building still didn't have enough structural integrity to be used but the building would collapse without that area, so they just leave it be."

"That makes no sense," Desmond replied with a frown. "The place wouldn't pass inspection every year if that were the case." Jade nodded and threw a meaningful look at Nathan, who grinned and bounced excitedly.

"Oooh man, that means whatever's there they wanna keep under wraps," he concluded. He drank his usual latte while he thought it over. Why would there be an urban legend about a building just to keep people from snooping around the old SEGA offices? Just what was in there that corporate gave the area such a wide berth that most would turn back to the occupied side of the building way before they reached that rusted old door?

"Mmhm," Jade agreed, "though I think whatever it is might not be that huge of a deal. Probably historically significant, but not much else."

The lads parted ways after lounging around a little more at Jade's coffee shop. They may have gone to school together and may have worked together, but they didn't live together. Desmond huffed to himself, finally internally acknowledging he had to take Nathan's word. Nathan found SEGA's old offices in the Nintendo-Microsoft headquarters. The building was from before Fuji's last eruption, which meant it had to be SEGA's old headquarters. The part of the building Nathan had found himself in must have been what was left over before it had been updated. But why was so much just left behind? Looked like he had some research to do of his own.


	4. Chapter 3

"Okay, so, here's what we do," Nathan began as he and Desmond walked towards the Nintendo-Microsoft headquarters the next morning. The two went in three days a week, since their respective classes were almost complete, plus the internship counted as both college credit and job experience. That day was their last for the week, after which were classes and homework. "After we're done for the day, I'll take you to where I discovered the old SEGA office."

"Won't we be in danger of getting caught," Desmond asked dryly.

"Dude, only you actually noticed I was gone last time. It'll be fine." The brown-haired Floridian doubted that, but because of what he found out the night before he didn't want to waste the opportunity. "So, did you read up on the company too?"

"Yeah, I did. Typical story of a big name that was slow to change to keep up with the market like so many others, its only glory days in the archaic 16-bit era. Got itself a Robot Master mascot of its biggest cash cow like so many, but in the long run it was too little too late. Poor thing wound up stolen by Dr. Wily."

"Yeah, that was the final nail in the coffin," Nathan mused. He smiled again and added giddily, "Maybe we'll find something left of that robot!" Desmond huffed out a laugh.

"I doubt it. We'll see."

"SEGA?" Desmond's supervisor grimaced in thought as he tried to recall where he heard that name from. "Hmm... I know of the name. It's old, and long gone. One moment, please." The brunette nodded as the shorter Japanese man dug a little into his desk. He reached into the very back of his cabinet to the very first materials he received as a rookie, back when the company still thought its own detailed history was worth going over. Lately the new talent barely knew the company's most influential leaders or even the fact the company was once two separate entities from two centuries ago.

The man grinned once he found what he was looking for and handed the papers to Desmond, "Here. This has the mention of SEGA, as Nintendo's biggest rival."

"No way," Desmond replied, skimming over the text. "The Net doesn't mention that."

"There is much the Net doesn't mention. It has been so long since the start of the digital age, and bits rot eventually. As much as there _is_, there _was_ a whole lot more. But yes, that says SEGA was Nintendo's biggest rival before SONY overtook both companies with their PlayStation console at one point in time. The old console wars were interesting. It kept everyone on their toes, and the winners were always the gamers."

"That is really cool, Hizashi, thanks for the info," Desmond said with a grin as he handed back the papers. "I just thought Miyamoto and Gates were the main guys."

"Oh no, of course not. There was Inafune, Naka, Sakurai, Kojima, Iizuka, Howard, Knowell, so many others."

"So, was this building really SEGA's, too?"

"That I don't know. Maybe. This city isn't Tokyo anymore, so comparing old records are useless without photos or someone old enough to remember. Why do you ask?"

"Nate thinks he found SEGA's old offices in the back of the building, stowed away and just left there to sit since no one uses that part." Hizashi lifted his eyebrows in interest.

"Well, if he spelunks back there and finds something cool let me know!" Desmond laughed. "Just be careful, I heard that part of the building isn't as structurally sound as it used to be."

"We'll be careful, boss. He's dragging me with him, so between the two of us it should be fine."

"Then I have no worries," Hizashi said with a big smile.

At the end of the boys' work day they gathered their personal items like usual, but didn't exit the building just yet. Instead, Nathan took Desmond down the mail route he had taken just the day before, though with a bit of trouble at the start since he had been running on autopilot before he realized where he had ended up. Still, between the two of them it only took a few more minutes for Nathan to find the right hallway and the lad nearly sprinted down the vacant area.

Desmond took his time, looking around at the sudden change of scenery. Everything from the cubicle walls to the lighting was so _dated_! No wonder Nathan described it as being transported to another world! Except for their steps, everything was quiet. Air still circulated, but with all the dust on the carpet and the vacant cubicle walls it smelled slightly stale. All it needed was a little cleanup and no one would know the area was essentially abandoned and forgotten.

"Des, over here," Nathan whispered hoarsely, as if someone lurked around the corner to come out and scold them any minute. Desmond trotted to catch up, turning an inconspicuous corner and stopping cold at an out-of-place wooden door. Its hinges were rusted, but intact. Also, were the lights _on_?

"Looks like someone else was here," concluded the brunette.

"No, no one else was," Nathan replied, "I turned on the lights when I first looked inside." Nathan turned the knob and opened the door, letting Desmond in first to take stock of the obvious front desk entrance to a particular department. Desmond gasped lightly at the intact SEGA logo above the dusty desk, staring in amazement at the evidence that left no more doubts.

Both young men fixed their eyes on the as of yet unopened door in front. They gulped and each took a breath. Desmond worked the old thing open, the task surprisingly easy. A dark hallway of only doors greeted them, most of the light bulbs no longer working. A few flickered, but it only added to the image of a stereotypical foreboding and dangerous area right out of horror movies.

The two walked forward slowly, listening for anything out of the ordinary. The left side eventually opened up to more cubicles, only that time instead of empty unused space there were relics of the past. Old desk chairs, computers, printers, tons upon tons of old LCD and LED screens and mice both wireless and none. Numerous keyboards sat slowly wasting away, all of them covered in a film of dust. The tech baffled the boys a little bit. Those kinds of electronics were things one saw in a museum. They hadn't been manufactured in years and were therefore rare finds, yet there sat more discarded old computers than they had ever seen in one place, almost all of them complete.

Whiteboards on the walls with text still on them were cracked from disuse, the work area giving the impression that whoever used to work there had left in a hurry. The one event where people had to quickly evacuate back then could only be the last eruption of Mt. Fuji. Nathan pulled ahead while Desmond looked over the old computer systems, walking further along the workspace to another door that strangely stood out among the rest. It looked made of heavy material, probably metal. What would a video game company need such a fortified entrance for? What secrets did they hold that they didn't want anyone else to know?

He tried to turn the handle, grunting at the fact it wouldn't budge. There was a keypad next to the handle, but it looked dead. If he could pry it open he could probably force it to unlock. The ginger lad ran back to the hallway and dove into the closest office, rummaging through the desk inside for something like a screwdriver or letter opener, anything to act like a lever to pry open the keypad panel.

"Ah-hah," Nathan cheered victoriously, holding aloft a sturdy letter opener before sprinting back to the metal door Desmond now noticed and currently contemplated. "Okay, let's get this sucker open!"

"I have a bad feeling about this, Nate," Desmond told him warily. "We're still in the building for Nintendo-Microsoft. We don't need to be taking anything from here."

"Who said we're taking anything? I just want to see what's here and find out exactly why a perfectly good section of the building hasn't been used," Nathan replied, grunting as he worked open the old keypad and grinning when it successfully popped off. Inside was a reset button. Most had them to unlock the door and reset the code. He pressed it, rejoicing quietly at the sound of the latches coming away from the doorframe and easily opened it.

What greeted them made both stop in their tracks and gape in awe. It was yet another separate room, brightly lit and filled with modern-looking computers and servers. A single capsule occupied the middle of the room, a red light blinking near the bottom. All the computer screens were dark, though still plugged in and probably still had power. The capsule obviously still had power flowing through it, though it was surprisingly short.

"Oh my god," Desmond gasped. "There's a reploid here? Why is there a reploid here?"

"I dunno, man. This isn't legal. We need to report this," Nathan realized.

"No one's gonna believe us, not without proof. We gotta get this poor thing out of here first."

"But Des, we don't know the first thing about these capsules!"

"What's to know? All you gotta do is find the right command. Look, we gotta do _something_."

"But what if it's an old Maverick?" Desmond huffed irritably as he made his way over to a computer to boot it up.

"Why would a game company harbor a Maverick? What are they gonna do with it? Mavericks are destroyers, nothing more. Can you see what it looks like?" Nathan peeked through the tinted glass front of the capsule, tilting his head right and left for a better angle. Squinting didn't help, nor did pasteing half his face to the glass.

"Not really," he answered, watching Desmond boot up the computer systems in charge of the capsule's operations. The machines hummed to life as the blinking red light on the capsuke suddenly turned green and let out a loud hiss as it unsealed itself. The boys jumped back in a near panic as the capsule door slowly lifted up, half-expecting to be threatened or reduced to ashes.

They were treated with nothing. Nothing stepped out of the capsule, though it was fully open. The computer beeped with a notification, but the two barely heard it. They could see the prone mechanical being fully now, and they could hardly believe their eyes. They had both read that SEGA had a robot mascot made like so many other companies and franchises had done back in the day, but for some reason there wasn't anything more specific than that. Nintendo was no stranger to crossover games, particularly those featuring the biggest name under their old rival company, and there were still posters and other images of Mario and a blue spiney creature.

"Sonic the Hedgehog," Nathan almost wheezed. "They made a robot of Sonic the Hedgehog?"

"Oh my god," Desmond breathed. "What are the chances this thing'd still be here? Why _i_s it here?"

"Hey, that's disrespectful, don't call him an it."

"Nate, robots back then weren't sentient. Not even Rockman."

"I beg to differ, but whatever. The real question is: why isn't he booting up?" At that, Desmond checked the computer again. He grunted at the large list of problems that needed addressing. Of course, since the robot master had been in stasis for more than a century, everything needed to be checked and/or maintained.

"God, almost everything is flagged," Desmond tsked, shaking his head. "Fluids, wiring, diagnostics, outer shell, cleaning... Surprised nothing in its brain is flagged."

"Okay, so all we have to do is top him off and do some basic maintenance."

"Which we don't know anything about." Desmond sighed and shut everything down again, both boys watching the capsule close. "It's best we leave this alone." Nathan pouted, not fully convinced it was best to leave such a valuable relic to continue rotting away forgotten in a building owned by a company that wouldn't care about it anyway. He reluctantly exited the room with Desmond, remaining quiet as they walked out of the abandoned office space of SEGA and turned off lights as they went. He tried not to wince at the lonely echo of the front door closing.


End file.
